Max Scherzer leaving Detroit hardly came as a surprise. After all, he had turned down a whopping $140 million contract extension just a year ago. In laymen's terms, $140M roughly consists of enough $100 bills that, when laid end-to-end, would reach from Earth to Jupiter. Or if converted into twenties and made into a belt, maybe, BARELY, span Chris Christie's waistline. Let's just say it's a lot of money.
Not so mad Max has departed Detroit to play for the Washington Nationals. In a way, it's ironic. He left behind a town of low-class crooks that ran their city into bankruptcy, for the greener (pun intended) pastures of the nation's capital. And what will he find there? High-class crooks (sometimes called Congress) who have run up the biggest deficit in the history of mankind. Is America a great country or what?
Nevertheless, by turning down the Tigers' $140M offer last year, Scherzer was gambling on himself. If he had had a sub-par 2014 season, or suffered a serious injury along the way, he would have been out a serious pile of money. But it didn't happen that way. Scherzer had another stellar season and his bet paid off. Hence the huge contract he just inked with the Nationals. Let's look at it.....
Basically it's a seven year deal worth $210 million dollars. Yes, the mega-bean counters of the Nationals spread it out over 14 years for accounting purposes, but let's get real. Scherzer is now 30 years old. There's no way, NONE, he'll still be pitching at the ripe old age of 44.
In effect, the Nats are gambling Scherzer will remain a dominant pitcher until he's 37. That's a mighty big maybe. A few, like Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, etc., have pulled it off, but the odds are highly against it. As most pro athletes, definitely including starting pitchers, get further into their 30s, there will come a time when they "hit the wall". The fall is often swift. Former greatness can quickly become mediocrity and even bottom out entirely. How Scherzer will fare from now through 2021 is anybody's guess.
But consider the contract itself. $210M for 7 years, more or less. Times like this call for some Jethro Bodine ciphering. (I'll have you know yours truly is also a proud graduate of the 6th grade. Likewise, alas, I had to quit my former careers as a brain surgeon, international playboy and double-naught spy when duty, sometimes referred to as a significant other, called. That Peterson boy had nothing on Jethro (Granny) and me (my ex). We both were all too painfully aware of switches and the woodshed. Ahem.)
After shuffling a few naughts, I dare say Jethro would agree that dividing 210 by 7 comes out to pert-near 30. Is Max Scherzer worth $30 million a year? Evidently the Nats think so.
But look at it a different way. The Major League Baseball regular season is still 162 games long. Every team has a starting rotation of 5 pitchers. Given the occasional "spot starts" afforded during the year due to various circumstances, it can fairly be said most starting pitchers will only actually take the mound roughly 30 times a year.
For all of Scherzer's recent dominance, this means he'll be getting paid a million bucks for every day he works. It doesn't matter whether he wins the game or gets bombed off the mound before the first inning is over. He still collects $1,000,000.
To put that in perspective, consider an "average" American working stiff making 40 grand a year. He/she would have to work 25 years of daily 8 hour shifts to make the same amount of money Max Scherzer will be making in ONE DAY during the course of a two hour shift at best. And half the time of those two hours, he'll be "on break" sitting in the dugout.
This can be summed up in two words.
The first is "insanity" as to how sports salaries have become absurd.
The second is "hypocrisy". This involves the "average" John/Jane fan that screams bloody murder about how the 1-percenters have taken over the country and destroyed the middle class, but will still pony up big bucks to go see and root for their star pitcher and his multi-millionaire semi-literate teammates at their local stadium. Such jocks ARE the 1-percenters. Hello?
In the end, like the above-mentioned Congress, the masses can bitch all they want. But until they stop re-electing the same clowns and refuse to go to games until the prices (driven by ludicrous players salaries) are more in line with the real world -- then nothing's going to change. In fact, it will keep getting worse.
Hopefully, there will come a time when people finally wake up, draw the line, and say "enough".
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